How often should I get my car serviced?

Maureen43

I was always told you should get your car serviced every year, but a friend today says not. They say a car only needs servicing after "a certain number of miles"!!

I do about 8000 miles a year and I drive a newish Seat.

What do people think? Once a year or less often?

I'm hoping you will say less often as that will save me a shed load of money!

M.

TonyMMM

Is it still under the manufacturer's warranty period ?

guestman

http://www.spireautomotive.com/seat/servicing/how-often-should-i-service-my-seat

Fat_Walt

Maureen43 wrote: »

I was always told you should get your car serviced every year, but a friend today says not. They say a car only needs servicing after "a certain number of miles"!!

I do about 8000 miles a year and I drive a newish Seat.

What do people think? Once a year or less often?

I'm hoping you will say less often as that will save me a shed load of money!

M.

It'll be every year or X,000 miles.

Your hand book will tell you.

guestman

every year is for a basic oil + filter , use long life oil and a back street garage and it isn't that expensive..


I just changed the oil in my leon cupra , I opted for shell helix with a 30% of code from euro car parts which ended up costing me £20, then £5 for a filter.

Maureen43

TonyMMM wrote: »

Is it still under the manufacturer's warranty period ?

No. It's four years old.

Maureen43

Sounds like every year or 10000 miles.

Every year then!

Sicard

When I worked on servicing cars 40+ years ago it was every 6 or 12 months depending on the car. There's levels to check if you don't do it yourself and oil burns which deteriorates its effectiveness. There's tyre pressures to check and, depending on the service, wheels to change from front to rear and swapping from side to side. There's adjustments to make for carburetor cars if too much/little fuel of air is passing through. In fact there's lots of checks to make. I used to service all my cars at home but I look under bonnets nowadays and haven't got a clue what's what.

I know it's expensive but get it serviced. It could save you a lot of money in the long-term.

EdGasket

There's not much to do on services these days apart from the oil and filter. If you have a major service at a franchise garage then they will bump the cost up with various 'checks' and maybe oiling the hinges and changing the pollen filter but generally oil and filter is all that needs doing. The exception would be a car with a timing belt that requires changing at the specified mileage or number of years.

I know its fashionable to add on brake fluid change every two years but I've never done that and never had any problems.

Swapping tyres round is old-hat; they are best left where they are as the rubber beds in to that particular wheel and rotation.

maninthestreet

Laurie_Sicard-Askey wrote: »

When I worked on servicing cars 40+ years ago it was every 6 or 12 months depending on the car. There's levels to check if you don't do it yourself and oil burns which deteriorates its effectiveness. There's tyre pressures to check and, depending on the service, wheels to change from front to rear and swapping from side to side. There's adjustments to make for carburetor cars if too much/little fuel of air is passing through. In fact there's lots of checks to make. I used to service all my cars at home but I look under bonnets nowadays and haven't got a clue what's what.

I know it's expensive but get it serviced. It could save you a lot of money in the long-term.

Any car less than about 25 years old won't use carburetors - they were superceded by fuel injection.

Iceweasel

Definitely no carburetors these days - thank God.

12K miles or 12 months is a good rule of thumb for an oil and oil-filter change.

Cabin/pollen filter and air filter needs changed then too - despite what many manufacturers say.

If you don't drive far out of UK (e.g. to the outer regions of the EU where fuel quality and cleanliness can be questionable) then a fuel filter change around 60K miles would be fine.

Brake fluid needs a change after first 3 years then every 2 years.

Don't rely on any garage service checking the tyre pressures - you should be checking them yourself anyway every 2 weeks or so.

Swapping tyres around to equalise wear seems to be a thing of the past too - plus it's not possible on many cars due to front and rewar having different tyre sizes.